It's All Over Now Baby Blue - Grateful Dead Song Review

You may be surprised to know that (It's All Over Now) Baby Blue was first played in the earliest days of the Dead and of course throughout the 80's and 90's.  There was a long stretch from 1974 through 1981 where the band didn't play the song.

This song is a good example of Jerry and the Dead showing their love and respect for Bob Dylan's songwriting.  It's also a good example of the band putting a song in the encore spot that lyrically works well for the end of a show (ie Brokedown Palace: "Gonna leave this ...." or And We Bid you Goodnight.  This type of detail is what made Grateful Dead shows such a nice encapsulated "trip."

The song's lyrics are a somewhat bitter and cruel "telling off" of a lover (or some other close relation).  This kind of theme is not unlike other Dylan songs like It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.  The song brings an air of "f--k you" attitude to it that I think Jerry might've connected with because of the difficult nature of his relationships and his need to frequently pick up and start fresh (with wives, family, etc).

Jerry does some pretty powerful singing during Baby Blue, as you can hear in the embed below (from 10/19/1990 in Berlin Germany).  There's one line in each verse that requires a really powerful delivery (strike another match, start anew) and the key is just perfect for Jerry's range.

The Rolling Stones also have a pretty well known version of Baby Blue.  It is from their version that the famous sample in Beck's Jackass was taken.

I'm a little less enamored with Baby Blue than most Deadheads.  I never got to see it live (although I could hear it one time in the parking lot at Shoreline), and the song has kind of a sour overtone due to Dylan's cruel lyrics.

The rest of the band really doesn't bring much flavor to this song, it's played really "straight" almost like karaoke.  Unfortunately, Bruce Hornsby is playing accordion on the embed below.  I really like what Hornsby brought to the table except that damn accordion.

Baby Blue seems like it would've fit in a little better with the JGB repertoire than the Dead's.

It's All Over Now Baby Blue Song Rating on a Scale of 1-10: 8.1

Disclaimer: This is part of my blog that reviews all things Grateful Dead for fun. Music is a beautiful thing because it is so personal and subjective, so keep in mind that this is one man's opinion(read my blog manifesto to understand my Grateful Dead background a little more).

Thanks Schnukleford for posting this on Youtube.

74 Tracks of a Dylan/Dead Rehearsal

There doesn't appear to be anything new about this recording, but thanks to this article on OpenCulture.com   that I was tipped off by @Stephenspower and @brainpicker on Twitter, I am now listening to 74 Tracks of Dylan with the Dead on archive.org.

The recording is from June 1st 1987 and was recorded at Grateful Dead's rehearsal spot - Club Front in San Rafael.

I've never been too hot on the Dylan and The Dead album and live recordings I've heard, but this is  really great listening.  It's a very relaxed rehearsal session with the band calling out songs, discussing the instrumentation, and finding their way haphazardly through a slice of the Dylan catalog.

The OpenCulture article has some interesting quotes from Dylan's autobiography about his surprise at these sessions because (in his words),

 "the band wanted to rehearse more and different songs than I had been used to doing with Petty [on his recent tour with Tom Petty]. They wanted to run over all the songs, the ones they liked, the seldom seen ones."

Jerry is playing spritely and seems to be very confident on the Dylan repertoire.  There's even some beautiful pedal steel in these recordings.  Occasionally, the band starts really gelling, but this seems to be more of a discovery expedition to see which songs might feel good on the upcoming tour.

I've got to say, there's a lot of Dylan songs in this collection that I have not heard yet (and I'm a pretty big Dylan fan too).

I am Grateful to the twittersphere for tipping me off to this recording.

Desolation Row - Grateful Dead Song Review

I'm a huge Dylan fan so I wonder why this song isn't more of a favorite of mine.

In an interview I read in the Relix Compilation Book Jerry Garcia was asked what songs he wants to remove from the Grateful Dead repertoire.  Surprisingly instead of dodging the question outright, he responds "some of the Dylan" tunes (something along those lines*).  The interview was from later in the band's career - I believe in the 1990's.

I imagine Jerry was referring to Desolation Row and/or Queen Jane Approximately - first set "Bobby songs."  When I paint My Masterpiece seemed to be a little more of a favorite of the band (and much shorter with a harmonic modulation to keep it interesting).  Phil's Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues was rarer and pretty great too.  There are more examples of Dylan tunes (Watchtower, Baby Blue, Memphis Blues, etc.) but in my opinion Jerry was talking about Desolation and Queen Jane.

Why would Jerry be wanting to remove these songs from the Dead setlist?  For the same reason I think Desolation Row is a little lackluster - they are simple, long, and a bit boring.  Desolation Row is basically a very long acoustic beatnik poem that the band adopted to the live setting.  There's just too much firepower on stage to waste it on 11 minutes of Desolation Row.   The song also had no real jam section, just soloists taking "a verse here," and "a verse there."

So while there are some iconic lines like:  ....playing the electric violin on Desolation Row.
And: Cinderella she seems so easy, it takes one to know one she smiles, and puts her hands in her back pockets, Bette Davis Style...

Overall, the song is a little lackluster.  It would've been great to see Desolation Row (I never did) but it is hard to make it through it on tapes.

Desolation Row Song Rating on a Scale of 1-10: 6.8

*the Relix book is great and reviewed here, but it does not have a table of contents so it is hard to find specific articles.

Disclaimer: This is part of my blog that reviews all things Grateful Dead for fun. Music is a beautiful thing because it is so personal and subjective, so keep in mind that this is one man's opinion (and be sure to read my blog manifesto to understand a little more about where I'm coming from).